Faces in the Mist
Committed
Roleplay posts: 50
Appearance: The mist swirls and whirls, whispering its secrets to whoever may listen.
Registered: Mar 19, 2021 19:13:05 GMT -5
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Post by Faces in the Mist on Apr 18, 2021 1:08:31 GMT -5
The Seraph's ChosenAfter returning as the only survivor from a disastrous hunting expedition, a man named Tressor claimed to have seen an angel on the island. His ravings, while initially ignored, were soon echoed by others who claimed to all have seen the same thing: a winged angel, rising into the sky from the edge of a cliff just as night fell. Together with the other "angel-touched", Tressor has gathered a small group of faithful believers, all of whom believe vehemently that the island is blessed by angels who will one day come down to help them. The group's gathering point on the beach is little more than a small lectern, behind which has been constructed a large, crude facsimile of an angel out of pieces of driftwood.
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 290
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Apr 20, 2021 17:44:06 GMT -5
Spring was a good season for making rope.
Sap flowed strong in trees such as willow, making their inner bark softer and easier to handle. A branch about as thick as her wrist was good to start with, but Nina didn’t have an axe or a saw, and she feared dulling one of the only two knives she owned. Who knew if she could get another? As such, she turned to nettles. When she’d gone with Theodosia to find water at the forest edge, they’d passed by thickets as tall as them (or stumbled into, in Nina’s case). That brought tears of joy to her eyes. Nettle leaf soup was the first cooked dish she’d had in months. The stems, she split and dried for fibers. There were advantages to shivering on nature’s doorstep.
For the first day, the castaway could barely do anything but eat, sleep, drag her feet to the watering hole, then sleep some more. On the second day she finally managed to check on her mentor, who was still sleeping and still probably not dead, and to get her bearings. She visited the settlement, put some of Theodosia’s stories in context, and helped with some minor chores. Still, much of it was spent just staying alive. Today was the third day of her arrival, and Nina was resolved to finally go on the quest she had been contracted for. Theodosia, the fortune-teller, was worried about the cult-like behavior among the people claiming to have seen angels. Nina thought for a while about the best way to approach them, and eventually just shrugged it off. There was no way to sneak your way across a beach in broad daylight, but nonchalance could work just as well.
She walked across the beach, heading towards the rise and fall of the voice from behind the lectern. There was more color in her cheeks than when she’d first landed, and she could walk without stopping to rest every few minutes, but her movements still left an unbreakable impression of fragility. At her belt, she carried a few handfuls on nettle stems, dried and with the piths removed, tied together by other nettle stems. She figured she’d get herself something practical to do while listening. As she settled down, she nodded in greeting, and reached for one of the nettle strings.
Folding it in two unequal parts, she placed them on her thigh and rolled, carefully increasing the tension until the two ends started coiling around each other. Then gradually she extended that coil, adding new strings when either of the ends finished. Staggering the ends revealed its purpose now, in the way the weak points in the cord would not overlap. Roll, twist, extend. Nina was comfortable enough with it that she didn’t even need to look down all the time.
In the meantime, she listened.
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Faces in the Mist
Committed
Roleplay posts: 50
Appearance: The mist swirls and whirls, whispering its secrets to whoever may listen.
Registered: Mar 19, 2021 19:13:05 GMT -5
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Post by Faces in the Mist on Apr 21, 2021 0:48:33 GMT -5
As expected, Nina's nettle-weaving attracted little attention. Thin, hungry people seemed to be washing up with alarming regularity these days, and so her appearance didn't warrant a second glance from most people. As she worked, she'd be able to eavesdrop easily on the speaker, a tall, bald man with a sunburn and a prodigious beard. The man had a wild, faraway look in his eyes as he spoke, his expression giving the distinct impression that he was looking past the audience at something that they couldn't see. This, clearly, was Theodosia's Mr. Tressor. Behind him, the crude driftwood angel loomed over his back, its "face" twisted in an agonized scream. Obviously, all the skilled carpenters were off building houses.
"...And I swear to you, my brothers and sisters," he intoned, his words spoken with the level, confident cadence of a man who'd given this speech many times before, "I saw an angel. With my own two eyes, the eyes with which I look upon you on this very day. It was on my third day alone, just before nightfall, when I came upon an opening in the trees. A cliff loomed up ahead in the distance, towering higher than the highest spires in the old city. Standing at the edge of the cliff was the angel, wings extended to catch the wind. I called out, and the angel rose. It flew up into the sky without even needing to flap its wings, simply ascended into the darkness and then...disappeared. It vanished with a pop, disappearing without a trace."
The crowd murmured and shuffled their feet, whispering among themselves. From Nina's outside perspective, the division between the skeptics and the believers was clear. While many of the gathered onlookers standing on the outskirts seemed unconvinced, the majority of the densely-packed crowd seemed to hang onto the man's every word.
"I returned to the settlement," the man continued, "guided by the grace of the angel of the isles. I admit to you, my brethren, that I doubted myself at first. I doubted my eyes, my own memories. However, after receiving guidance and mystical insight from the oracle, I chose to trust my senses. And lo, I was correct to do so. Brother Kean, would you be so kind as to tell your tale?"
A thin, hunch-backed man with a rat-like face scuttled up to the lectern, giving Tressor a deferential bow. Once the self-proclaimed holy man stepped out of the way, Kean cast a nervous eye over the crowd before speaking. His voice was nasal and whiney, not carrying over the crowd quite as well as Tressor's.
"I saw it too," he said, wringing his hands together as he spoke. "The angel on the cliff. I went into the woods to gather mushrooms and found myself looking up at the same cliff at nightfall. There was the angel, just like Blessed Tressor said. It stood there for a few moments, then floated up into the sky and vanished."
A brief chorus of shouts broke out from the crowd as a smattering of other people called that they'd seen the same phenomenon. After about half a dozen had spoken up, Tressor raised his hands, nodding for Kean to return to his spot.
"I went back to the cliff," he said. "I go back every week. I have seen the angel twice more since that first time, and I believe that I will see it again. Tonight, I would like to extend the invitation of the angel's blessing to all of you. I shall lead an expedition to the holy cliff to see the angel in flight and receive its blessing. Join me, my brothers and sisters. Join me in accepting the grace of the Angel of the Isle!"
The crowd erupted in cheers, their applause echoing across the sand. Even the skeptics of the bunch seemed to be convinced, nodding and muttering excitedly among themselves about the upcoming excursion. Most people didn't venture far from the settlement unless they had to, and so the opportunity to see an angel offered an intriguing diversion.
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 290
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Apr 21, 2021 15:49:09 GMT -5
Listen closely, to the words, listen to their rhythm until it merges into a buzz, and you might be able to hear the crack in the story. Weave the strings together, brush your fingers over the weak points, and think. Where? There are multiple points where reason can break.
Thermals. Eyes can be deceiving, Nina knew. The cliff, the time of the day, the motionless flight, it all spoke to her of great birds of prey soaring on thermal currents. No one was asking the right questions, either, such as where exactly was the sun compared to the cliff? Still, the disappearance with a pop was surreal to say the least. But if this was the case, then it held the potential to be the most tragic. A bird the size of a human shouldn’t be able to carry a human away, but since this was chick-raising season, there was a small chance they might get more territorial.
Maybe the crack was in the mind. Nina had spent enough time locked in a room with too many deadly plants and a madman who knew all about them, to not learn that some substances could fool the mind and dull the senses. Just days ago she’d been told, matter-of-factly, about incense which made people suggestible. Was it too out there to imagine a field of hypnotic flowers? This would seem to contradict the consistency between the observations, but it was not impossible that Tressor’s original story had influenced everyone who’d gone after him, including himself.
Maybe the crack was beyond the mind, in the gap between people. This would imply that Tressor and at least some of the other angel-touched were swindling others. Maybe he’d hit rock bottom when the rest of his hunting party was horribly murdered, and decided that he would get the power to protect himself, somehow. Still, it was near-impossible to look at the man in the eyes and not think that he, at least, believed his tale.
There was, of course, the possibility that it might be entirely true. Was the crack in her own mind?
Yet as she was putting her thoughts into neat little boxes, the traveler ran out of time. The old man invited everyone to join him on one of his visits to the angel.
“Well, that doesn’t sound potentially dangerous at all.” The traveler commented blankly, among the hum of other people’s voices. Surely, she wasn’t the only one who remembered how Tressor had gotten there in the first place?
She bit her lip. If someone got their eye gouged out by a giant raptor, that would cause a hubbub, and at least some of the blame might (unfairly) fall on Theodosia. That would definitely be a breach of the contract, of which Nina had already benefited. She felt the tide of public opinion shift in Tressor’s favor, and it was draining all her strength just to keep her calm. Yet slowly, shakily, she raised her hand. “Excuse me.” She mumbled.
She forced her eyes up from the ground.
“E-excuse me. You’re extending an invitation, but to what?” Her thin, shaky voice held a danger that would only become obvious later: genuine curiosity.
“What you’ve seen, with your eyes, is an angel-like being. I am not denying that. But all the rest, the protection, the worship, that’s borne from the mind. Which doesn’t mean it’s not true, but I find it important to ask, why?”
Nina pressed a fist to her chest, still holding a string of nettle in it.
“If the angel-being reckons in a way that we can hope to understand, if it is capable of being ‘good’ and ‘kind’ in ways that we recognize, then surely… If it protects people, which I don’t think has been clarified yet, then surely a good person would protect everyone, regardless of belief? And…I don’t think I’ve heard any of you say that the angel asked for a belief system?”
Nervously she toyed with the string.
“I find it important to be respectful to people, human, plant, spirit or otherwise, and not assume they desire a particular type of relationship, such as worship. Personally I’d find it a bit scary if someone I just met started worshipping me.” Nina nervously smiled. “Wouldn’t you…feel the same, Mr Tressor?”
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Faces in the Mist
Committed
Roleplay posts: 50
Appearance: The mist swirls and whirls, whispering its secrets to whoever may listen.
Registered: Mar 19, 2021 19:13:05 GMT -5
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Post by Faces in the Mist on Apr 22, 2021 21:19:51 GMT -5
The crowd fell silent as Nina stood and spoke, turning to stare at the waifish girl with the nettle rope. Dozens of eyes bored into her as the gathered crowd stared, their expressions ranging from curiosity to irritation at her words. Kean, the second man to have seen the angel, started to shout something. His face turned red, as though gravely offended by her words. Before he could get so much as a single word of protest out, however, Tressor's hand clamped over his mouth. The "holy man" gave Nina a broad, gap-toothed smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, extending a hand towards her to gesture for her to come closer.
"I see that we have a skeptic in our midst," he said, looking at her but speaking to the crowd. "A non-believer. Do not fault her for her sins, my brethren. She has not looked upon the angel's glory with her own eyes, and ought to be forgiven. After all, I myself did not believe what I'd seen the first time. I was a doubter, I didn't believe my own eyes. But now, now I have seen the light! My mind and eyes are open and ready for the angel's blessing. Come with us, my dear girl. Come and see, see and believe."
The crowd nodded, parting down the middle to form an impromptu aisle. They gestured, smiling and nodding, for Nina to step up and approach Tressor. For his part, Tressor removed his hand from Kean's mouth and spread both of his arms wide in an open invitation.
"Simply laying eyes on the angel is enough to feel its blessing," he said. "Ever since I've seen it, I have felt nothing but peace and serenity. I can hear the angel in my mind, speaking more in feelings than in words. The angel speaks to me, girl. Tells me to gather others to receive its blessing. Gather enough, and I can join it in angelhood. All who have seen the miracle say the same."
"It's true!" called a gaunt-faced woman at the front of the crowd. "I've seen the angel and I've heard the call. Come, dear. Come with us. It wouldn't speak to us if it didn't want to be worshipped, would it? Wouldn't tell us to bring more to witness its glory."
Tressor nodded, beckoning for Nina to come. Within moments, the whole crowd was gently encouraging Nina to step forward, smiling and waving for her to step down the aisle and walk up to their leader.
"If I could fly like an angel," said Tressor, "soaring through the skies on great wings...I'd understand if people were to worship me. Come now, girl. See the miracle with us. Open your mind."
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 290
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Apr 24, 2021 5:10:24 GMT -5
Nina carefully knotted her work-in-progress, and slipped it into a pocket. She stood up, and the silence hit her. It felt like walking through water. Think, Nina, think. What do the angel-touched have in common? Look. Any tell-tale marks on their legs, from hallucinogenic thorns? That would be too easy.
Suddenly she was in the middle of a sea of people. So it felt like. Face-to-face with the one who started it all, she reached inside herself. For calm, under her tense lips and the anger of being labeled a sinner. For strength. For magic. If there was magic lingering inside Tressor’s brain, here, this close she should be able to feel it. If she could feel at all anymore.
“Oh, I do plan to come along.” Nina said with a smile. Another could have heard the clink of ‘you cannot stop me’ under her breath. “To check if it’s safe. I would just caution against others doing so, for now.”
Brilliant, Nina, the back of her mind added. Make sure to be alone with the fanatics and with no witnesses. Fantastic self-preservation instinct.
“My name is Nina. I might be young, but I have been travelling for most of my life. I have witnessed things many of you might consider to be…unnatural.” Like Tressor, she was facing him, but addressing more than that. She forced herself to drop her crossed arms into a more relaxed position, and flicked two fingers in the air. “I’ve seen a man erased with two droplets of mercuric compound.” That had been Gray’s. She gestured widely. “I’ve talked to a dragon, and mimed for Spelling Bee swarm, and stumbled into a detective story that had grown so complex that it started walking on its own, nearly destroying its host in the process.” Her eyes went wide for a moment, as if there was something on the tip of her mind that she could not quite remember. “I have stepped into a village where a priestess’ oboe song kept winter at bay in an endless midwinter celebration…that is, until you stepped through the cracks in the illusion, and saw that everyone was getting a tad skinny.” Her voice cracked. “I know that things are not always what they seem. For better, or for worse.” Slowly she shook her head.
“It is possible that, on this island, we have encountered peace such that humankind has never seen before. It would be wonderful.” Nina pressed a palm to her heart.
“It is also possible that we are not yet realizing the nature of what this angel is, and the full cost of being beholden to them. That is always a risk in unequal relationships. Always a risk with insufficient information.” She hastened to shake her head. “I’m not saying this is truth.”
She raised her palms in a conciliatory gesture.
“I’m simply advertising…caution. Patience.”
“If there is true wonder waiting, then it can wait a bit more. Any enlightenment that functions like a pyramid scheme is one,” Nina added with a raised eyebrow, “that should raise at least an average of an eyebrow per person.”
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Faces in the Mist
Committed
Roleplay posts: 50
Appearance: The mist swirls and whirls, whispering its secrets to whoever may listen.
Registered: Mar 19, 2021 19:13:05 GMT -5
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Post by Faces in the Mist on Apr 25, 2021 15:58:46 GMT -5
Taking a close look was a good decision, and Nina's sharp eyes would soon pick out a number of telltale signs of the angel-touched. Their eyes were wide and bloodshot, the pupils too large for the bright sunlight. A few of them, Tressor included, stood with a slight hunch in their backs. After a moment's close observation, she would notice that they all had an odd habit of continually glancing back over their shoulders, looking off towards the woods where Tressor claimed to have seen his mysterious angel. As she approached the holy man, she wouldn't notice any sort of magic aura around him, but would get a distinct, nagging sensation in the back of her mind that something was very wrong.
"Nina, dear," he said, showing off a mouthful of chipped, yellow teeth as he beamed at her. "It's lovely to hear that you're coming along. And it is a noble thing indeed for you to offer to come along in the place of others to ensure its safety. You seem to be a worldly traveler indeed...but the world as we know it is gone, and the only lands we have to travel are upon this very island. Surely that fact in itself offers evidence that these lands are blessed? With the wonders you have seen, you know as well as anyone else the miracles that the world can hold. I want nothing more than to lead others to a treasure that I myself have taken part in, to allow everybody to experience the blessing of the angels with their own eyes. I would be remiss in my moral duty to delay these people from receiving such a blessing for even a moment, so great is its power. In a world of darkness and fog, Nina, would you keep people from the light?"
"Yeah!" shouted a particularly dirty-looking man from the crowd. "Why should you get to go first, huh? I've been attending these sermons for days, and you just wander up and demand to be the only one taken to see the angel. What's the deal with that?"
"My children deserve the angel's blessing," called a tired-looking woman, patting the two toddlers that clung to her skirts. "They have a right to a full life under the light. They should go first!"
"I ate a rat for lunch today!" called another man, holding up what looked very much like a rat's skeleton in his hand. "Times are hard! We could all use some divine blessings today!"
Despite the protests, it seemed that Nina's words had reached at least a couple of ears. A few of the more skeptical members of the crowd murmured, stepping away from the group. The congregation let them go, their eyes focused on Nina. Tressor held his hands up to the crowd, palms out in a placating gesture. He closed his eyes, a serene smile spreading out across his face.
"Friends," he called. "Brothers, sisters, sons, daughters. The angel's blessing shall smile upon us all. I hear its voice now, calling us to the holy mountain. There's enough of the angelic light to wash over every man, woman, and child upon this island."
The crowd let out a great cheer, throwing hats, scarves, and at least one rat skeleton into the air. The rat's skull broke off and sailed across the crowd, landing on Nina's head with a soft bonk.
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 290
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Apr 27, 2021 15:44:39 GMT -5
Nina had felt like this once before, when stepping onto a leaf bed on the point of becoming a wildfire. Her head whipped around, towards the speakers. Uncertainty, exhaustion, lack of security. Despair. All these feelings had smoldered in the darkness for a long time. The tiniest flicker of hope was enough to bring them to the surface, and only gods knew whether the result wouldn’t engulf their hosts in the process. Later. She understood later. In the moment she simply stared, overwhelmed by the human element and by her inability to offer anything better.
“Moths hurry toward light, too. Sometimes they’re engulfed by the flames.” She finally forced out her reply, but Tressor had won and they both knew it.
As cheers erupted around them, Nina didn’t even notice that her appeal to caution had reached some hearts. She stared at an empty space ahead, as if she’d been struck. When something hit her head, the woman caught it from reflex. A rat skull. Still sticky with things she preferred not to know about.
Her fingers tightened on it, and for a moment it looked like she would throw it to the ground and storm out. She took in a breath.
“I’m keeping it.” She said.
She sat down. For a while, she sat alone with her thoughts, her quiet presence a thorn in the crowd’s side.
What could she do? She looked up. The sun was still high up in the sky, there would be some time before the merry party headed to the angel’s meadow. She kept her ears pricked. Ideally she’d do some scouting beforehand, but there was no way that they’d tell her where. Besides, she was weak. Gray might push himself to near death to complete a mission, but she wasn’t him. Nina was days into recovering from what she suspected were several nutritional deficiencies. If she went traipsing around through the forest, she might not have strength for when it truly mattered.
Perhaps the best thing she could do was make sure that she wouldn’t fall to the enchantment. Before trying to help anyone else.
Long socks, a long-sleeved blouse and a scarf that she could wrap around her face. For those, she went to Theodosia. If the trick relied on touch or scent, she blankly explained, some casual ‘armor’ might help. She’d been hesitant about informing the fortune-teller – if it turned out that some substance was to blame for the illusion, wouldn’t she try to use it to her favor? But Nina had too few allies to be picky.
A makeshift breathing filter. For that, Nina took charcoal from an exhausted cooking fire and crushed it into a mortar and pestle. The resulting grit, she washed multiple times before drying it, embedding it onto a scrap of fabric with resin, and sewing it into some sort of fabric envelope which she clipped to a fold in the scarf. Gray was the sort of maniac who only felt comfortable with poisons he crafted himself, which is why his unwilling apprentice had ended up learning about activated carbon.
‘It’s the cracks in the charcoal, you see,’ Nina explained to Theodosia. ‘They latch on to really tiny things. Including poisons. That’s why you can eat it to fight ingested poisons, dek? Except in normal charcoal, many of those cracks are covered in soot. Not a problem if you swallow it, but not healthy to breathe in. I don’t have alchemy to clean it-“ The door to Gray’s alchemy laboratory had remained locked, the clock mechanism being left with too little magic to sustain a tower that was larger on the inside, “so I hope water is enough to make it work in an emergency.”
There was a low tide, which enabled her to reach her home on the shore while only wetting her ankles. She ate some sea creatures – those who didn’t eat before battle, Gray said, were eaten by battle. Then, she slipped her stiletto into a sheath hidden under her sleeve, and her sword-breaker on a string around her neck, under her blouse. She informed Gray that she might be hallucinating and he might actually just be a rotting half-eaten corpse, but that didn’t make the assassin stir from his sleep. She took his cloak, the grey assassin’s cloak that he’d given her.
It was an assassin’s cloak. No one else might know it, but to her, it radiated a terrible, frightful competence. That was powerful. The filter was for a battle of artistry, the sword-breaker for one of weapons, but the cloak was for a battle of the mind.
She returned to the settlement with time to spare, and kept up her rope work while keeping an eye on the angel-touched. Also, she kept training her mind.
She meditated. Time and time again she stepped down the twenty stair steps and down the twenty ladder rungs of her conscious, into the core of her mind, before walking back up. Sometimes the steps were made of stone, other times of wood. Wide or narrow, many times they were steps from places that she knew well. Sometimes the ladder rungs broke under her hands and she clung to the remains tightly while thinking her path into existence.
Down, and up, she went. She talked to beings that were part of her and set up defenses.
She would be ready.
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Theodosia Planchette
Committed
Roleplay posts: 80
Appearance: Theodosia stands at a fairly average, unimpressive height. Her red hair and numerous golden piercings and ornaments are quite eye-catching, although her tendency to glare at people often dissuades a second glance. She wears a number of bright silks and elaborately patterned robes befitting a proper fortune-teller. The twisting, vine-like tattoos on her arms are actually just painted on, a fact that she tries to keep hidden from people.
Skills and Abilities: Theodosia is a trained fortune-teller, gifted with the ability to see through the mists of time and pluck upon the threads of fate...or so she claims. Whether she actually possesses any such skills can be questionable at times, but her knowledge of fortune-telling methods (from cards to ashes to chicken entrails) is unrivaled.
Registered: Mar 28, 2021 21:11:09 GMT -5
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Post by Theodosia Planchette on Apr 28, 2021 17:21:13 GMT -5
Nina would have little trouble tracking down Theodosia and would soon find her in her tent. As it turned out, the young mystic already had a number of scarves cut for wrapping around her face, and she was already familiar with the charcoal trick. Handing Nina a mug of rather weak (but still hot) tea, she examined the young woman's handiwork, prodding experimentally at the charcoal filter.
"That's pretty good," she said, nodding approvingly. "That's an old fortune-teller's trick, you know. Don't want to breathe in too much of the incense we use, you know. Makes you kind of loopy and suggestible. It, uh, helps with our work. You're not a fortune-teller, though. Where'd you learn a trick like that? Seems an odd thing to know for an artist. Do people try to poison painters a lot?"
Telling Theodosia about the cult-like behavior of the angel-worshippers caused her a great deal of worry, and after much fussing and complaining she insisted on coming along. This whole debacle was her fault, after all. If her profession weren't all about constant lies and falsehoods and deceptions, Tressor would have never ended up at the head of a group of fanatical followers. Her sense of responsibility drove her need to come and see this through, and so she insisted upon meeting Nina at the outskirts of the settlement just before they left.
Nina would be able to make it back to her house without incident, although her dinner of assorted intertidal zone creatures seemed somewhat saltier than usual. Her meditation back on the beach would be largely undisturbed as well...at least, until Theodosia arrived. Her level of stress and worry were practically palatable in the air, tension showing in her every word and movement. She wrung her hands together as she spoke, glancing nervously over her shoulder across the beach to where the angel-worshippers were gathered.
"I haven't been watching them," she said. "I didn't know that there were so many! Oh my goodness, how did he gather so many? You don't think he really saw an angel, did he? What if they start sacrificing people? A group like that, all fired up...they're only a couple of steps from painting their faces red and demanding virgin sacrifices! What if they- never mind, it's too horrible to think about. I don't now if it'd be better for them to actually see an angel or not at this point. This is so terrible, and it's all my fault...."
Meanwhile, down the beach, Tressor was addressing his congregation once more. He'd donned a set of white robes that looked to be made out of a bedsheet, the makeshift clothes hanging loosely on his emaciated figure. His inner circle of angel-touched stood around him, carrying torches and large knives, presumably to bushwack their way through the forest.
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 290
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Apr 29, 2021 14:50:01 GMT -5
As the sound of waves turned into chatter, Nina rushed up to the surface of her conscious, skipping two and three steps at a time. Her eyes regained a spark of focus.
“Feel free to kiss me. If they start looking for virgins.” She muttered. The problem was if the proto-cultists got less specific about their sacrifices. Her eyes slipped over the cool glint of metal. Were all those big knives really necessary? But they were heading into a dangerous forest, after all…She looked down at her hands, to see a nearly-completed length of cord that she didn’t remember. “And it’s not. Your fault, I mean.” She shook her head. “I don’t know if there’s always been something inside Tressor that drove him to seek power over others, or if he cracked that day. But I don’t trust a man who trusts himself to play god,” the traveler said, and strangled the cord between her fingers, “any further than I can throw him. And, well…noodle arms.”With a sheepish grin, she fluttered her hands, and froze into sharp focus moments later. “Say…Has he always been this thin?” Had any of the others?
Nina had a nagging suspicion, but it was impossible to guess its accuracy given that she’d just washed up on the shore days ago.
“Drugs. Perhaps it’s drugs.” She eventually murmured. She thought of the strangest compounds that Gray had given her, both knowingly and not. With another person, she might have been more guarded, but Theodosia had something about her that made her talk. She’d already said more than she’d meant to, earlier, when asked about the filter. ‘Gray…The person I told you about. He has all sorts of eclectic knowledge. More than is healthy for him, really.’ And especially for anyone else. ‘And some paints are produced via dangerous intermediates,’ she’d hurriedly added. Focus, Nina, focus on the present.
“Magical, mental or chemical. Might be just my imagination. The way they look back to that place…It felt almost like a physical need.” She murmured. For an instant she stared at the toddlers, fallen asleep on their mother’s lap. Calmly, she imagined taking out her stiletto and stabbing herself through the hand. Children! “If so, it’s got to be pretty strong.” She commented.
Her breathing remained equal.
“Now, the question is…It Tressor taking advantage of something he found, or is someone else playing him? Which way do the strings go…?” She mused, holding the newly-braided cord between her hands.
Her gaze flicked to Theodosia.
“Would you like to get closer? Won’t be able to talk as freely, though.”
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Theodosia Planchette
Committed
Roleplay posts: 80
Appearance: Theodosia stands at a fairly average, unimpressive height. Her red hair and numerous golden piercings and ornaments are quite eye-catching, although her tendency to glare at people often dissuades a second glance. She wears a number of bright silks and elaborately patterned robes befitting a proper fortune-teller. The twisting, vine-like tattoos on her arms are actually just painted on, a fact that she tries to keep hidden from people.
Skills and Abilities: Theodosia is a trained fortune-teller, gifted with the ability to see through the mists of time and pluck upon the threads of fate...or so she claims. Whether she actually possesses any such skills can be questionable at times, but her knowledge of fortune-telling methods (from cards to ashes to chicken entrails) is unrivaled.
Registered: Mar 28, 2021 21:11:09 GMT -5
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Post by Theodosia Planchette on May 3, 2021 16:31:01 GMT -5
Theodosia chewed nervously on her lower lip, clasping her trembling hands together as she eyed the gathered group. Despite Nina's reassurances to the contrary, she wasn't entirely convinced that this whole fiasco wasn't her fault. Gazing out at Tressor in his loose white robes, she shuddered. Despite the heat and humidity of the island, she suddenly felt very cold indeed. What had gotten into that man? What had he seen out in those dark woods, alone and frightened? She had little doubt that he'd seen something out there, but couldn't possibly imagine how it could have changed him so.
"We're all thin," she said, resting a hand on her flat stomach. "We were on a ship for months, you know. Rations got a little short after a while. Now that you mention it, though...Tressor does look skinnier than he used to. He was always pretty lanky, but he had muscles, you know? Always moving boxes around and hauling line. Now he looks like he's been wasting away. As though he hasn't eaten anything in a while. Can't imagine how anyone could have that much energy without food, though."
She frowned, trying to remember what exactly Tressor looked like back on the ship. She hadn't really spoken to the man very much, but she'd always made a habit of knowing who people were and what they did. It was always hard to tell fortunes to absolute strangers, after all. He'd always been a the loud type, but never anything like this.
"Drugs?" she asked, eyes wide. "You really think so? Gosh, I don't know...where would they even get them? Tressor's no naturalist. The only drugs I know of are the ones in my tent and the ones that the surgeons keep. Uh...how is Grey, anyways? Did he wake up yet? You did make sure that he's still alive, right?"
At the suggestion to get closer, Theodosia turned pale, but nodded. Pulling her hood up over her head, she followed Nina as they crept up towards the group. Sneaking quietly, they managed to get within earshot unnoticed...until Theodosia stepped on a large crab. She yelped as the creature pinched her toe, drawing the attention of the crowd. As lantern beams swung in their direction, Tressor beamed at them, stopping mid-sermon to wave them over.
"Aha," he called, eyes shining in the torchlight. "Our little skeptic and the great oracle! The one who set us on this path of righteousness. Brothers, sisters, please join me in celebrating and welcoming our new friends!"
The crowd roared and applauded, clearly thrilled to see them. Even the little children clapped their fat little hands together, smiling brightly at the two women. Theodosia froze, eyes wide in horror.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't see it until it pinched me!"
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 290
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on May 5, 2021 4:16:06 GMT -5
“I’ve asked him if he was dead, and he didn’t say yes, so that’s good, right?” Nina clenched her fists. There were only so many ways to cope with nothing changing. It occurred to her that Theodosia was showing more care for Gray than the assassin had probably received from mostly anyone for…forever. It was a chilling thought.
They approached the group, and it said much about Gray’s training that Nina wasn’t even trying to be silent and yet, besides her cat-like steps on the fine sand, it was the unfortunate fortune-teller who gave them away. Little point to it, she’d thought. She couldn’t trust herself to remain unnoticed for the entire journey through the forest. Any suspicious shadow in the darkness, and she might find herself at the wrong end of a slingshot or, gods forbid, a bow. It’s not that she trusted Theodosia even less to be quiet, but obviously she did trust her even less. Still, wrong time to explain that.
“Roll with it.” She murmured.
“Oh dear, I apologize for interrupting.” She continued, louder. “Please, don’t let me detain you.” She smiled, slightly too sharply.
There was a strange quality of Nina’s. The direr a situation, the calmer she grew. Theodosia’s panic simply kicked that calm into action sooner. She looked at the smiling faces and waved back, strode forward with the setting sun warm on her shoulders, her cloak waving lightly like a piece of ash floating off from a fire.
“I do apologize for missing the defense briefing, too.” The woman awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. Depending on whether Tressor had continued his speech, she'd adjust her volume down to a whisper. “So, who else is on guard duty? I mean since you brave people are heading into the deadly forest and all.” Nina kept her tone light. People might stop listening if she got too argumentative right off. But she wasn’t going to let them forget that others had died there.
“After all…” She carefully drawled her words. “The thing about blessings, is that they don’t apply everywhere and in all possible cases.” She looked down, noticed a curious stone with a hole in it, studied it against the light and pocketed it. “And the thing about prophecies…Is that they are true, but not always in the way you might first expect.”
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Theodosia Planchette
Committed
Roleplay posts: 80
Appearance: Theodosia stands at a fairly average, unimpressive height. Her red hair and numerous golden piercings and ornaments are quite eye-catching, although her tendency to glare at people often dissuades a second glance. She wears a number of bright silks and elaborately patterned robes befitting a proper fortune-teller. The twisting, vine-like tattoos on her arms are actually just painted on, a fact that she tries to keep hidden from people.
Skills and Abilities: Theodosia is a trained fortune-teller, gifted with the ability to see through the mists of time and pluck upon the threads of fate...or so she claims. Whether she actually possesses any such skills can be questionable at times, but her knowledge of fortune-telling methods (from cards to ashes to chicken entrails) is unrivaled.
Registered: Mar 28, 2021 21:11:09 GMT -5
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Post by Theodosia Planchette on May 5, 2021 15:38:01 GMT -5
Nina's unnatural calm and soft, stealthy steps didn't help Theodosia's mood, the contrast only making her more flustered with her clumsy steps and stressed demeanor. She cringed away from Tressor's gaze, wondering how Nina could be so relaxed and confident in front of such strange people. They weren't especially threatening yet, but she couldn't ignore their wild eyes and large bush knives. As Nina stepped up towards the cultists, Theodosia shied away, unconsciously stepping behind the smaller woman and pulling her cloak more tightly around herself.
Tressor's smile widened, stretching across his face like a shark's dead-eyed grin. He didn't seem bothered at all by her questions and implications that the trip might be dangerous, not faltering for a second before responding.
"Blessings may be ephemeral," he said, "but the angel's light shines upon me. It alone preserved me from the beasts and called me to the the holy cliff so that I would receive its glory and bring others to share in its light. I was protected in this holy quest, and so shall be all the faithful who follow me. Fear not for your safety, my dear girl. Be not afraid. The angel's light will guide us well clear of any beasts that we cannot handle. The faithful shall be preserved. As for prophecies...what are we to do with prophecies if not act upon them? The fates are a fickle thing, but one cannot expect them to do everything for us. Come now, my friends. It is time."
With a wave of his hand, he started out towards the forest, leading the group. His angel-touched inner circle flanked him, hands torches in hand. The group followed, whispering excitedly. They didn't seem especially concerned about the danger of the forest, not even the mother with her two little children. Theodosia followed as well, tagging on behind Nina.
"What if it's a spirit?" she asked, voice hushed. "Not an angel, per se...but some sort of malevolent entity? We could all be walking into a trap. Something out there might want to eat us, something not of our world. I have a bad feeling about this, Nina."
Off in the distance, thunder rumbled. A storm was coming, although it would be a while yet before the rain arrived. Squinting up at the dark sky, Theodosia shuddered and wrapped her shawl more tightly around her shoulders.
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 290
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on May 6, 2021 15:29:55 GMT -5
“The thing with preserving the faithful,” Nina’s insidious murmur balanced on the point of snapping, “is that those not preserved can’t exactly argue their faithfulness.”
She might as well have been talking with a fencepost. Her teeth clenched. Tressor’s logic was growing increasingly tangled with his personal reality, and others found it good enough to follow. As the group moved, she gestured to Theodosia that she’d be right back, and pushed her way right through the crowd. She was looking for someone.
“You.” Nina’s hand grasped a man’s shoulder. A mass of shoulders and elbows moved besides them. “You threw a rat skull at me, earlier.” She grabbed his wrist and forced a bundle of rustling, green, paper-like stripes into his hand. Taking one, she bit off the end. “Seaweed. It’s tasty. Thought you might need a snack.” Her words rushed so fast to the end of sentences that they stumbled over each other.
Her feet did much of the same as she went back to the rear. Radiating something evil, she didn’t speak again until Theodosia did.
“I thought that was the point.” She eventually replied.
Her gaze then drifted upwards. She might have saved her breath. If those fools could read what those heavy clouds wrote on the sky and still walk on, then no words could convince them.
Maybe…except for one.
“You can still turn back, you know. There’s no shame in it. It might be helpful to have someone know the story if I…If I get turned.” The traveler’s voice remained equal, yet Theodosia might be able to sense a shiver as Nina bumped into her while trying to stay close enough to hear. “Then you won’t have to pay me.”
That was the thing about books. They made conspiring look much less bumbling and awkward, and didn’t send gusts of wind your way to wrap your slightly-too-large cloak around your knees.
“If you stay…You’re a braver woman than I am.” Nina whispered. It occurred to her that this was probably the first time that the fortune-teller was dealing with potentially unnatural events not of her own creation. “I’ll need your help. Keep an eye on your surroundings. If there’s a ruckus and people get frightened, many might lose track of the way back. That’s as dangerous as any spirit.” Her fists clenched. “You can help them. Look for identifying landmarks, keeping in mind they might look very different in darkness and rain. I’ll make some more.”
She reached down to collect large, colorful seashells. They would be out of place in a forest. Just the right thing.
“Spirits…I’ve encountered a few.” Nina eventually said. “They vary from forces of nature too alien to be fully grasped, to ideas borne in the human mind, to some that were once human. Some can be reasoned with. Some can be fought. A couple are best just being far away from. I don’t know which will be the case without understanding more about the culprit. I used to be pretty okay about noticing this sort of stuff.”
She looked down at her hands. She thought she’d sensed the magic in the clockwork just before leaving, but was it an actual sensation? Or just a memory of what had been?
“…I don’t know if I have it in me anymore.”
Her steps rung loudly in her ears.
“But there’s no one better here, I think, so I’ll have to do.”
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Theodosia Planchette
Committed
Roleplay posts: 80
Appearance: Theodosia stands at a fairly average, unimpressive height. Her red hair and numerous golden piercings and ornaments are quite eye-catching, although her tendency to glare at people often dissuades a second glance. She wears a number of bright silks and elaborately patterned robes befitting a proper fortune-teller. The twisting, vine-like tattoos on her arms are actually just painted on, a fact that she tries to keep hidden from people.
Skills and Abilities: Theodosia is a trained fortune-teller, gifted with the ability to see through the mists of time and pluck upon the threads of fate...or so she claims. Whether she actually possesses any such skills can be questionable at times, but her knowledge of fortune-telling methods (from cards to ashes to chicken entrails) is unrivaled.
Registered: Mar 28, 2021 21:11:09 GMT -5
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Post by Theodosia Planchette on May 7, 2021 13:45:03 GMT -5
The hungry man's shoulder would feel bony and thin beneath Nina's hand, suggesting that the rat may have well been the best meal he'd had in quite a while. He turned, surprise evident on his gaunt, stubble-covered face as she thrust a bundle of seaweed into his hand. Eyeing the dry strips of kelp dubiously, he lifted it to his mouth and took a crunchy bite.
"Uh...thanks," he said, a small cloud of dried seaweed shards flying from his mouth as he spoke. "It's very...salty. Better than a rat, though. I guess. Sorry about throwing a rat skull at you. Didn't mean to hit anyone."
Theodosia bit her lip and hesitated, fretting for a few moments at Nina's suggestion that she go home. She did want to leave, wanted to go back to her tent and drink tea and forget what ever happened...but how could she leave Nina here to deal with this mess herself? She still felt responsible despite her assurances. If she left Nina and something bad happened, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to live with herself. Sighing, she shook her head, clutching Nina's hand in both of hers.
"I can't go," she said, voice trembling. "I'm coming with you. I can't very well tell the story if I don't know how it ends, you know? And besides...you're the only friend I have here. You're the only one who knows my secrets. I don't think I have the strength to confess again to anyone else. I'll come with you and help however I can."
Her lips tightened into a thin line as Nina questioned her own ability to deal with the situation. Squeezing the woman's hand, she clutched it to her chest, locking eyes with her as she spoke.
"Hush, Nina," she said. "You can do this, I know it. You can do all kinds of things. You sailed here across the sea in a house. You survived swimming to shore. You managed to get a fortune-teller to tell the truth, for goodness sake. Do you know how hard that is? I- hey, wait a minute."
Frowning, she pulled Nina's hand away, squinting at it curiously. She'd felt something odd as she'd held it, something she didn't quite understand. Lifting it up, she pressed it to her ear like a seashell, face twisting in confusion.
"Nina," she said, "why are you ticking?"
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